Friday, July 15, 2016

[A juicy mystery, a super-smart border collie, and a generous giveaway! Welcome Donna Ball with her new release, The Sound of Running Horses! ~ Lisabet]

Blurb

Still
recovering from the traumatic events of the past year, newlyweds
Aggie Malone, police chief of Dogleg Island, and Deputy Sheriff Ryan
Grady are looking forward to a carefree day of picnics, pirates and
buried treasure with their precocious—and uncannily perceptive—border collie, Flash. But when Flash discovers a body in a shallow
grave on the deserted Wild Horse Island Nature Preserve, a tangled
knot of conspiracy, murder and deception begins to unfold, revealing
that the things that are buried are often the most dangerous and the
only pirates you have to fear are the ones that live next door.

Fifteen hundred miles away, an ex-con and a fifteen year old
girl embark upon a crime spree that will earn them the nicknames
“Bonnie and Clyde”. As they make their way inexorably south,
Aggie, Grady and Flash are thrust into the middle of a murder
investigation that leads to the arrest of one of their neighbors and
the attempted suicide of another. When a search of the dead girl’s
belongings reveals a priceless emerald bracelet and two of the
islands most popular residents go missing, the puzzle becomes even
more complicated. Grady and Aggie struggle to put all the pieces into
place while Flash, ever obsessed with understanding the human
condition, wrestles with a more painful dilemma: how do you tell the
good guys from the bad guys when they are so often the same person?

Excerpt

Aggie
dropped the phone into her pocket and shouted, “Flash!”

While
she was on the phone Jack had cast off and started the engine, but he
hadn’t yet moved away from the dock. Aggie dived for the rope just
as Flash reached the rail. She stripped the rope off the cleat and
tossed it to Flash, who made one circuit around the rail support
before leaping onto the dock with the end of the rope in his mouth.
The boat began to edge away from the dock, taking up the slack in the
rope, as Aggie snatched the rope from Flash and started to wind it
around the cleat. She was tying the knot when she heard the gear
lock in and felt a strong tug that almost pulled her off balance and
into the water. Panic leapt to her throat. She finished tying the
knot, praying it would hold, and shouted, “Jack Saunders, cut your
engines! Cut your engines and disembark! That’s an order!”

The
line stretched taut but the knot held. The boat rocked in the water.
Saunders called back,

“You
can’t give orders to a captain on his own boat!”

Aggie
pulled her gun and got down on one knee in a shooter’s stance.
“Cut your engines this minute or I swear I’ll fill this boat with
so many holes she’ll never float again! Do it now!”

The
boat railing began to creak as it strained against the pull of the
engines and the opposing pull of the rope. Aggie held her breath,
but she also held her aim. In a moment the engines throttled down.
“Return to dock!” she shouted. “Disembark with your hands
above your head!”

Flash
jumped on board as soon as the boat was close enough, and kept
Saunders in the pine-scented wheelhouse until Aggie had securely tied
off again. He had done take-downs before, but never on water and
never, he had to admit, one that was this much fun. Captain Jack
snarled at him but Flash had bigger teeth, and after he demonstrated
as much the captain gave him no more trouble. Saunders climbed
sullenly onto the dock and raised his hands in the air. Flash kept a
wary eye on him. After all, people, as he well knew, were
unpredictable.

Aggie
holstered her gun and snatched Jack’s hands behind his back. She
was breathing so hard she was practically wheezing, and she was
soaked in sweat. “You are under arrest,” she said, with
difficulty, “for evading a police officer, interfering with an
investigation, withholding evidence, and disobeying an order from an
officer of the law. Damn it,” she said angrily as she snapped the
cuffs closed, “I told you not to make me do this the hard way.”

Debby, Canine Musical Freestyle is sometimes called "dancing with dogs" and it's a real sport! It's a lot like equine dressage, only the human has to dance too. When it's done right, it's breathtaking.

A new to me author! How exciting. This sounds like an amazing story. I love dogs - collies are so beautiful and I love that pic. I love mysteries and crime stories. What a great combo. Looking at it from the dog's pov, how novel. I look forward to reading this. Thank you. aka Becky